‘Eragon’ is the story of a young farm boy, Eragon, living in a time where electricity doesn’t exist but legends still hold magic. He lives with his uncle and cousin. What happened to his parents are a mystery, his uncle will only say that his mother had to leave and he doesn’t know anything about his father. The village that Eragon and his family live near has the typical characters, from the butcher and the healer to the storyteller who still talks about the legends of the Dragon Riders as if he is awaiting their return.
But when Eragon finds an odd blue stone in the mysterious mountains surrounding the village, his life goes from ordinary and simple to extraordinary and dangerous. The stone is actually a dragon egg; the dragon inside has chosen Eragon to be their rider. However, the evil king, who was once a dragon rider himself, seeks the egg, not knowing it has hatched and chosen a rider.
Thus begins Eragon’s adventure, heartbreak and loss of childhood.
It is a great story. It is beautifully written, the characters are lovable and easy to connect with. The story is a somewhat typical epic tale of love, loss, adventure and travel with the elder who teaches, child who learns but is stubborn and thinks he knows all. It sort of reminds me of the ‘Lord of the Ring’ series, which I have only read ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ but the basic idea is the same. A linguist didn’t write this story, so it is easier to follow. If you like LOTR and stories of that sort of sci-fi fantasy, then you will enjoy ‘Eragon.’
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho, 12/17/09
This book was fairly popular a couple of years ago. I have always been slow to follow trends.
The book is about a Shepard boy named Santiago who had a dream one night while sleeping in an old church that there is buried treasure at the pyramids in Egypt. He is about 17 years old. As Santiago is traveling to a village to sell his wool and see a girl he has a crush on he meets a mysterious stranger who tells him that he should pay attention to that dream, go to the pyramids and find his treasure. This stranger is a wise man who says that he can always come home, but he is young and should travel to this place, find what he is seeking first.
So the Santiago sells the stranger all his sheep and gets on a boat, which takes him to the area of Morocco, Africa. He doesn’t know where the pyramids are or how long it will take him to get there. His first day in Africa he meets someone who speaks his language, gives him all his money to buy camels which the stranger says will get them to the pyramids the next day. Of course this newfound friend has stolen his money and has disappeared into the crowd.
Santiago is destitute, alone is a strange place and jaded by the mysterious man he met in Spain telling him to follow that crazy dream. But over the course of the couple of years, Santiago has many adventures, meets many people he learns things from, learns a new language and eventually makes it to the pyramids.
At the pyramids Santiago does not find his treasure. Instead he is attacked by a man who says that if he had followed after everything he dreamed about he would be looking for treasure that was buried near a tree in a churchyard in Spain. That is where Santiago finds his treasure; near a tree in the very churchyard where he had is dream about the pyramids.
I enjoyed this book. It was dreamy, hopeful and had great insights to things you have probably heard a hundred times but thought was fluff. The moral of this story, from my point of view, is that the treasure you seek is probably where you would never think to look, but before you can find it you have to take a journey, where you learn to be satisfied with what you have.
The book is about a Shepard boy named Santiago who had a dream one night while sleeping in an old church that there is buried treasure at the pyramids in Egypt. He is about 17 years old. As Santiago is traveling to a village to sell his wool and see a girl he has a crush on he meets a mysterious stranger who tells him that he should pay attention to that dream, go to the pyramids and find his treasure. This stranger is a wise man who says that he can always come home, but he is young and should travel to this place, find what he is seeking first.
So the Santiago sells the stranger all his sheep and gets on a boat, which takes him to the area of Morocco, Africa. He doesn’t know where the pyramids are or how long it will take him to get there. His first day in Africa he meets someone who speaks his language, gives him all his money to buy camels which the stranger says will get them to the pyramids the next day. Of course this newfound friend has stolen his money and has disappeared into the crowd.
Santiago is destitute, alone is a strange place and jaded by the mysterious man he met in Spain telling him to follow that crazy dream. But over the course of the couple of years, Santiago has many adventures, meets many people he learns things from, learns a new language and eventually makes it to the pyramids.
At the pyramids Santiago does not find his treasure. Instead he is attacked by a man who says that if he had followed after everything he dreamed about he would be looking for treasure that was buried near a tree in a churchyard in Spain. That is where Santiago finds his treasure; near a tree in the very churchyard where he had is dream about the pyramids.
I enjoyed this book. It was dreamy, hopeful and had great insights to things you have probably heard a hundred times but thought was fluff. The moral of this story, from my point of view, is that the treasure you seek is probably where you would never think to look, but before you can find it you have to take a journey, where you learn to be satisfied with what you have.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer, 'Twilight' 12/2/09, 'New Moon' 12/4/09, 'Eclipse' 12/7/09, and 'Breaking Dawn' 12/11/09
I will be honest… in the past year I have read this series four times. I am sure by now the entire world knows the story, human girl falls in love with vampire boy, vampire boy falls in love with human girl, human girl’s best friend is a boy werewolf and he falls in love with her too, there are outsiders who want to harm human girl because she knows about vampires….
But that isn’t what I love about this series. I keep re-reading it because it’s simply written, the characters are familiar and easy to like but not incredibly complex, it’s not like a cheesy teenage love story. I love it because it brings back the rush, exhilaration, thrill, and anxiety of the first time you fall in love. It reminds me that the first time I fell in love I would have done anything for that other person and thought I would die without them. Overdramatic to be sure, but that was the way I felt and the time and these books bring all those feelings back.
I am sure that there are people out there who have decided that they won’t read these books because it’s about teenagers and the supernatural. That is not a good reason. I absolutely recommend the entire series to anyone who wants to remember what it feels like to fall in love, and what it feels like to lose that person.
I also love these books because they break the mold of typical vampires. I enjoy that.
There are many other themes and lessons throughout the series, this is the main one for me. Read them and enjoy! It is one of my guilty pleasures.
But that isn’t what I love about this series. I keep re-reading it because it’s simply written, the characters are familiar and easy to like but not incredibly complex, it’s not like a cheesy teenage love story. I love it because it brings back the rush, exhilaration, thrill, and anxiety of the first time you fall in love. It reminds me that the first time I fell in love I would have done anything for that other person and thought I would die without them. Overdramatic to be sure, but that was the way I felt and the time and these books bring all those feelings back.
I am sure that there are people out there who have decided that they won’t read these books because it’s about teenagers and the supernatural. That is not a good reason. I absolutely recommend the entire series to anyone who wants to remember what it feels like to fall in love, and what it feels like to lose that person.
I also love these books because they break the mold of typical vampires. I enjoy that.
There are many other themes and lessons throughout the series, this is the main one for me. Read them and enjoy! It is one of my guilty pleasures.
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